Abstract

We report the Drude oscillator strength D and the magnitude of the bulk band gap Eg of the epitaxially grown, topological insulator (Bi,Sb)2Te3. The magnitude of Eg, in conjunction with the model independent f-sum rule, allows us to establish an upper bound for the magnitude of D expected in a typical Dirac-like system composed of linear bands. The experimentally observed D is found to be at or below this theoretical upper bound, demonstrating the effectiveness of alloying in eliminating bulk charge carriers. Moreover, direct comparison of the measured D to magnetoresistance measurements of the same sample supports assignment of the observed low-energy conduction to topological surface states.

title = "Sum-Rule Constraints on the Surface State Conductance of Topological Insulators",

abstract = "We report the Drude oscillator strength D and the magnitude of the bulk band gap Eg of the epitaxially grown, topological insulator (Bi,Sb)2Te3. The magnitude of Eg, in conjunction with the model independent f-sum rule, allows us to establish an upper bound for the magnitude of D expected in a typical Dirac-like system composed of linear bands. The experimentally observed D is found to be at or below this theoretical upper bound, demonstrating the effectiveness of alloying in eliminating bulk charge carriers. Moreover, direct comparison of the measured D to magnetoresistance measurements of the same sample supports assignment of the observed low-energy conduction to topological surface states.",

T1 - Sum-Rule Constraints on the Surface State Conductance of Topological Insulators

AU - Post, K. W.

AU - Chapler, B. C.

AU - Liu, M. K.

AU - Wu, J. S.

AU - Stinson, H. T.

AU - Goldflam, M. D.

AU - Richardella, A. R.

AU - Lee, J. S.

AU - Reijnders, A. A.

AU - Burch, K. S.

AU - Fogler, M. M.

AU - Samarth, N.

AU - Basov, D. N.

PY - 2015/9/11

Y1 - 2015/9/11

N2 - We report the Drude oscillator strength D and the magnitude of the bulk band gap Eg of the epitaxially grown, topological insulator (Bi,Sb)2Te3. The magnitude of Eg, in conjunction with the model independent f-sum rule, allows us to establish an upper bound for the magnitude of D expected in a typical Dirac-like system composed of linear bands. The experimentally observed D is found to be at or below this theoretical upper bound, demonstrating the effectiveness of alloying in eliminating bulk charge carriers. Moreover, direct comparison of the measured D to magnetoresistance measurements of the same sample supports assignment of the observed low-energy conduction to topological surface states.

AB - We report the Drude oscillator strength D and the magnitude of the bulk band gap Eg of the epitaxially grown, topological insulator (Bi,Sb)2Te3. The magnitude of Eg, in conjunction with the model independent f-sum rule, allows us to establish an upper bound for the magnitude of D expected in a typical Dirac-like system composed of linear bands. The experimentally observed D is found to be at or below this theoretical upper bound, demonstrating the effectiveness of alloying in eliminating bulk charge carriers. Moreover, direct comparison of the measured D to magnetoresistance measurements of the same sample supports assignment of the observed low-energy conduction to topological surface states.